The palace of the archbishop behind the cathedral of Ravenna is probably as old as the cathedral itself. After all, the bishop of the city – archbishop since 553 – needed a place to live and receive his guests. The palace was enlarged in several phases, the first known addition…
The archiepiscopal museum of Ravenna (Museo Arcivescovile) is located directly behind the cathedral of the city. Although the building that houses the museum can with some justification be called modern, its history goes back a long way. The cathedral itself was built by bishop Ursus (ca. 370-396 or 405-431), and…
Although architectonically unimpressive, the church of Santa Maria Maggiore has an interesting history that goes all the way back to the sixth century. Unfortunately our knowledge of that history is full of gaps. This is hardly surprising, as the Santa Maria Maggiore has been described as “one of the least-studied…
The TAMO museum in Ravenna opened its doors in 2012. TAMO is an acronym for Tutta l’Avventura del Mosaico, or ‘the complete adventure of the mosaic’. Everyone know that the city of Ravenna is famous for her mosaics, most of which date from the fifth and sixth century. TAMO focusses…
Twenty years ago, on 30 October 2002, the ‘House of the stone carpets’ in Ravenna opened its doors. The founding of a museum on this spot was more or less a coincidence. During excavations at a courtyard in 1993-1994, which had been launched prior to the construction of an underground…
In 2018 the Classis Ravenna museum opened its doors in an old sugar factory (zuccherificio). The factory had been closed down in 1982 and was now given a second life. As the Italian name of the museum – Museo della Città e del Territorio – suggests, Classis Ravenna tells the…
The complex of San Paolo is a former Benedictine nunnery in the centre of Parma. The nunnery was founded at the end of the tenth century by the then bishop of the city, Sigefredo II, and was considered very prestigious. Its prestige was based on the fact that it was…
The Biblioteca Palatina in Parma is a very special place. This was demonstrated in the episode The Art of the Feast of the BBC series Italy Unpacked. In this episode, presenter and chef Giorgio Locatelli found a book of recipes in the library that was written in 1680 by Carlo…
The Galleria Nazionale is the largest and most important museum in the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma. Our first visit to the museum was in the summer of 2020, but unfortunately many of the rooms were closed back then because of COVID-19 restrictions. As a consequence we missed the works…
OK, perhaps it was not such a clever question, and perhaps I had not done my homework very well. When I bought a ticket for entry to the Palazzo della Pilotta I asked the lady at the counter whether the Teatro Farnese inside the palazzo was a copy of the…
The district west of Parma’s historical city centre is called Oltretorrente, which means ‘beyond the river’. This is of course a reference to the river Parma. It is hard to miss the church of Santissima Annunziata while exploring Oltretorrente. The church, which is alternatively known as the Basilica del Paradiso,…
“Is that all?” I will not hide the fact that that was my primary reaction when I visited the Museo Diocesano in Parma. The museum, in the basement of the episcopal palace opposite the Duomo, is very small indeed. It basically consists of one large room, a corridor and a…
The basilica of Santa Maria della Steccata can be counted among the most important churches in Parma. Since 1718 it has been the seat of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, a Catholic order with a rather shady history. The church also serves as the mausoleum of members…
The church of San Giovanni Evangelista is situated directly behind the cathedral of Parma. The large church is part of an even larger Benedictine abbey. The first abbey complex dates back to the tenth century: it was built between 980 and 988 and replaced an older oratory dedicated to the…
The beautiful Baptistery of Parma occupies the south side of the Piazza del Duomo. The building, clad in pink marble from Verona, is a mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The lower part has the well-known Romanesque rounded arches and Romanesque sculptures, but higher up these rounded arches have already…
The cathedral of Parma is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Santa Maria Assunta in Italian. It is an impressive building on the east side of the Piazza del Duomo, with the Baptistery and the episcopal palace housing the museum of the diocese (Museo Diocesano) on the south…
The Galleria Estense is one of the museums that have found accommodation in the Palazzo dei Musei on the edge of Modena’s city centre. The museum was founded in 1854 by Francesco V, the last truly independent duke of Modena from the d’Este family (the duchy was annexed by the…
The outward appearance of the church of Santa Maria della Pomposa is somewhat that of a barn. Try as hard as one may, it is simply impossible to detect any kind of decoration. All one sees is naked brick. Remarkably, it turns out that the church was in fact used…
The Musei del Duomo can be found in the Via Lanfranco, the street behind the Duomo of Modena that was named after the first architect of the cathedral. There are actually two museums here: the Museo del Duomo, which has a collection of frescoes and religious objects, and the Museo…
With a length of about 67 metres and a width of 25, the cathedral of Modena is not an exceptionally large building. It must, however, be counted among the most beautiful Romanesque cathedrals of Italy. People standing in front of the Duomo are immediately struck by the large rose window,…